Sunshine
by Cerulean Musings
Summary: Tumblr prompt: PeterxOC "Sometimes I really don't like you." While on a visit to Cair Paravel, Peter helps Crystal come to terms with her future. Companion one-shot to "One of the Guys".


_**Sunshine**_

The soft glistening sand cushioned her feet and brought a beaming smile to her face, one that barely rivaled the sun above. It was a nice and very welcomed change of pace to the cobblestones that lined the streets of the Rayuvian kingdom.

Don't get her wrong, she cherished her moments away from the castle where she could roam the streets, see what new trinkets the merchants had to sell, listen to the lively conversations of her "subjects"—oh, how she despised the word—and feel the breeze on her face rather than breathing in the same, stale dusty air up within the castle's confines. However, she could not ignore the ache in her arches by the time she turned in for the night. Her flat shoes did little to support and her traveling boots didn't fare much better, either.

The boots in question hung at the tip of her curled fingers as she tilted her face up towards the sun, taking in the cool salty sea-breeze that ruffled the hem of her traveling skirts. She dug her toes into the white sand focused on the gentle lapping of the waves on the shore. She needed to visit more often.

"Am I interrupting something?" If possible, Crystal's smile got wider as she opened her eyes and whirled around. She stumbled slightly, her feet catching on the hem of her skirts, but she regained her balance to rush towards her approaching companion.

"Just my peace and quiet, but considering it's you, I'm not complaining," she replied. The minute Peter got close enough she stood on her tiptoes and threw one arm around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug. Her breath came out in a slow, content sigh as his chest pressed against her and his strong hold encircled her waist. Her lips turned down in the corners at their parting but she rearranged her face as he looked down at her. "You're late," she noted, giving his arm a push and flashing a teasing smile. "You know it is rude to keep a lady waiting."

"My apologies." He made a sweeping gesture with his hand and bowed in an exaggerated manner, causing her to giggle. "It won't happen again, Your Highness."

"Peter, no!" she groaned, turning away from him. " _Please_. You and the others are exempt from ever calling me that." She started walking and glanced down at Peter's feet as he fell into step with her. "Just like you're exempt from wearing those," she said to his boots. "No shoes allowed on the beach."

Peter snorted. "Since when do you make the rules on _my_ beach?" He spread his arms and motioned towards the castle in the distance. Cair Paravel loomed overhead, standing tall and watching over them.

"Since you kept me waiting," Crystal replied, lifting an eyebrow. He flashed a particular boyish smile that made her lick her lips and her stomach tumble in the best way possible. She turned away from him, starting to walk along the beach. "Think I'm allowed a little compensation," she called over her shoulder.

He quickly fell into step beside her. "I really am sorry."

"I know. I appreciate you coming to spend time at all. I know you're busy."

"As are you." Peter lightly bumped his elbow against hers.

The shockwave shifted all the way down to her toes. Clearing her throat, she put on a teasing smile as she stated, "That I am; such is the case, you're lucky I had precious time to spare for you."

"Oh, _precious time?_ Is that right?" Peter placed a hand to his chest whilst applying a mocking tone to his words. "Then I should only be so lucky as to breathe the same air as you, _Your Highness._ "

She huffed a breath through her nose and he chuckled. "You're impossible."

"And yet you're the one who requested to come see me."

She nodded. "I did."

"Not Su?"

"I assume she's been busy deciding between the best fabrics to drape for her upcoming nupitals, no?"

Peter nodded. "She has been busy. But she enjoys it. Lucy has gotten in on the preparations as well."

"When she's not spending time with James, that is?" Crystal asked with a knowing smile.

Peter's gaze darkened as he hummed. "Yes; remind me to ask Su to give her more tasks."

"Pete!" she admonished, "sooner or later you are going to have to accept that Lucy is growing up." He grunted which only made a chuckle rise in her chest.

"Who says?"

"You're impossible."

"You said that already."

She shrugged. "You haven't changed."

"Have I not?" The intensity in which his question was directed at her made her stop in her tracks. Her toes sunk into the sand. She was vaguely aware of him stopping by her. Despite the long sleeve of her dress her arm burned where his brushed against hers as he stepped around her, standing in front of her as if looking for an answer on her face. It was a joke, an offhand comment, but not to him.

She gulped. He stood above her, blocking out the sun. It cast an odd, golden glow around him. The cascading shadows sharpened his jaw, darkened his eyes, enhanced every cut and ripple that was hidden beneath the sleeves and pants legs. But only just. Not that she noticed.

She bit her lip, many prepared jokes dissolving on her tongue. That wasn't what he needed right now, she knew. She felt it. "Pete…" She licked her lips. Her heart beat hard against her chest. The ocean waves beat against the shore in time to the steady rhythm and she glanced down to see a faint blue glow around her hands. She curled her fingers against her palm and the glow subsides; the crashing waves returned to a gentle lap.

She looked up at him. "You had to make a few tough decisions lately. I understand they couldn't have been easy but they had to have been made. And no one else could have made them but you. Okay? You stood by your people, you did what had to be done. You gave them hope, a _chance._ You've lead them out of tight spots, through uncertain fate." It wasn't until his fingers curled around hers did she become aware that, at some point, she had taken his hand. Her thumb brushed against his knuckles. "You light a fire in them, rather than just feeding your own. You're a good man, Peter Pevensie. You deserve to give yourself a break."

Peter's jaw relaxed; the muscle that had been previously twitching in the corner stilled. His shoulders lowered, relaxed. She wished she could mimic him; her statement—a rushed confession of sorts—took the edge he had dropped. She dropped his hand and grabbed at her arm, anything she could do to make a barrier in front of herself. Keep him from getting too close lest her heart beat right out of her chest and ram into him. Maybe then, only then, he'd see how much he'd changed. He'd see himself how she saw him. And he'd get it.

"You're right," he stated, the two words a whisper against the wisp of wind that brushed by them..

She cracked a smile, recovering quickly from the topic whiplash. "Come again? Don't believe I hear you say that often enough." His smile broke through as well and she sighed. This was good, safe ground.

"I do think I deserve a break."

"You _could_ stand to relax a…wait. Peter— _no!_ "

With a sly smile and mischievous gleam in his eye, Peter advanced before she could brace herself. Her legs, entangled within the skirts of her dress, slowed her down. His long arms looped around her and, all at once, she tilted, her feet left the ground in one swoop.

"Put me down, you…you fiend!" she called, pressing her boots into his back in an attempt to slow him down. His long legs chugged on, carrying them both and his following laughter straight towards the water.

"Fiend! Well then, I may as well live up to the name, shouldn't I?"

"No, you _really_ don't have to."

"Oh yes, I think I do."

" _Peter!"  
_

She wiggled and kicked, all to no avail as, within the next second she blinked, the clear water enveloped her head and filled her ears and soaked her clothes. Her body tightened, curled, and then unfurled. Her hands brushed against the loose sand sifting in the currents and she managed to get back to her feet. She spluttered, swiping her tongue against the droplets on her lips. The salt skidded across her tongue, causing her to make a face.

"Sometimes I really don't like you," she stated to his gleeful smile. She reached up and pushed wet, stringy hair out of her face.

"You said I needed a break. I was merely taking your advice."

"How does tossing me aside count as _you_ taking a break?"

He approached, the water sloshing around his knees and darkening his pants legs. She imagined his feet were weighed down due to his water logged boots. He reached out, his fingers brushing against her cheek. Her skin immediately burned beneath his touch and a trail of goosebumps erupted over her arms as he pushed wet hair behind her ear. "Well, it was _fun_ so…" his words trailed off as his gleeful smile widened.

It wavered the second a smirk curled on her lips and she lifted her hands. The blue glow returned and, by the time she drew her arms back, his smile slipped from his face all together. She thrust her arms forward, the water below mimicked her motion, surging forward and drenching Peter.

It was his turn to splutter as she laughed. Water droplets dripped from his hair and the tip of his nose. Averting her gaze from his now seemingly clinging shirt, she turned one of her boots upside-down and watched as water slipped out of it.

"Thank you." A glance at his face earned her another kick to the stomach, in the best way possible. "For what you said. Thank you."

She shrugged and rubbed her arms. "You're welcome. You're just…really hard on yourself sometimes. You don't need to add more pressure onto your own shoulders. You're doing the best you can."

He lifted his chin. "How are you doing, then? How rude of me, to not ask."

Crystal's mouth twisted to the side. The knot in her stomach that had been untied the further she got from Rayuvial re-tightened a this question. She clicked her tongue, a very uncouth manner for someone in her position, she knew, but habits died hard. "I'm getting by. All your lessons and advice…they've all come in handy. More so than I thought." She blew out a breath, her lips vibrating. "There's so much to learn and remember and do! Let alone getting used to everyone calling me 'princess'." She made finger quotes around the word.

"Speaking of which, how would you like us to address you? As Crystal or Calla?"

The question made her take pause. She frowned. It was a good question, a good question _indeed_. In fact it was one she had been trying hard not to have to answer. Her father—Narnian father, birth father—had slipped up a few times lately, slipping her birth-name by before she had a moment to correct him that Calla, in fact, was wrong. She wasn't _Calla._

At least she _hadn't_ been before they were whisked off to the magical land of Narnia all those months ago. Or _back_ to Narnia in the Pevensies case. It was no wonder all this came with such ease to them. Every morning they woke up, they knew how to tackle the day compared to her. Every morning she arose she had to remind herself that she wasn't with them anymore. That she had her own land to tend to. That she was a _princess_ now. That everything was different and changing.

How was one to choose? She didn't feel like a princess, and yet, she didn't feel like her old self either. Not after the battles, the tension, the adventures. _The near death._ Her lips formed a line. Her life had once been laid out before her: attend school, become a teacher, meet a fella, have children, and take care of the house. Once she entertained the idea of becoming a nurse but she let that go when her father—her real world one—put her back on the right path, the accepted path. The one life expected of her. One world wanted her one way, one wanted her a different way, and all she wanted to do was go and hide.

"I don't…I don't know," she finally admitted. "I don't know. I don't know if I want to even be a princess, I don't know if I want to go back home. I just…don't know what to do." She turned her questioning eyes to him. "How did you know what to do?"

Peter took a moment before he replied. "I trusted that Aslan knew what he was doing. Knew the right path for us. That he would always be there, even if we can't see him sometimes." He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sure you can handle it. You've never been one to back down from a challenge." The gleam in his eye allowed a proud smile to come to her own face.

She knew he was thinking back to that fateful day in the tube tunnels, when she not-so-subtly made it known that she wouldn't stand for her school peers to make comments about her. A lifetime ago…Oh, she had a fire then. One that grew out of control quickly, one even she couldn't control on her worst days. And while it kept her going, it also burned her until all that was left she didn't recognize. A wide-eyed shell that had seen too much, heard too much, _did_ too much. Was _that_ the path that Aslan wanted her on?

"You have a lot of faith in me," she noted.

"Faith can move mountains. And in your case, quite literally." He pushed aside his wet hair and twisted at the waist, glancing up at the castle. "I'm ravenous. Stay for supper? I'm sure the others would love to see you as well. I can't hog you all to myself."

 _Who says?_ She clamped her lips together before the thought shot out of her mouth. "Getting rid of me already, Pevensie? And here I thought you missed me."

He turned back to her. "I did." She wasn't fast enough to stop the shocked, choking noise that stuttered in her throat. "We all do," he quickly corrected himself.

"I miss you lot as well." She reached up and curled her fingers around his elbow; his fingers twitched on her shoulder.

"Besides, I have since learned that I cannot get rid of you." He winked. "Lord knows, I've tried."

With a gasp of indignation, she playfully pinched at his arm and wiggled out from under his hand. "You'd be miserable without me. Now, considering _you're_ the reason I'm now soaking wet"—she ignored the roll of his eyes—"the least you can do is escort me up to the castle."

"Of course, Your Highness."

" _Peter!_ "

He stuck out his tongue, turned, and knelt in the semi-shallow water. She sloshed forward, hooked her arms around his neck, and leaned forward, allowing him to lift her with ease. As he adjusted her nose brushed against his neck and she took in his scent, a pleasant warmth spreading within her. He smelled like sunshine.

* * *

 **A/N: Sooooo. It's been a long while since I've posted something in the Narnia fandom. I got a prompt on my tumblr that I felt drawn towards so this is the result. It was supposed to be a short drabble but then it turned into this long one-shot; I guess I missed writing in the Narnia fandom and writing PeterxOC more than I thought. Just something nice and fluffy, I've been having a bit of a time lately so something simple and cute was what I really needed. I hope it's what someone else needed too. As the summary says, this is a companion one-shot to my story _One of the Guys._ Check it out if you'd like. Just...keep in mind I wrote that ages ago, back when I was in high school, yeah? Damn, I missed this. I need to go back and re-read the series/re-watch the movies again.**

 **~C.M.**


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